FedInvent™ Patents

New Taxpayer Funded Patents for Tuesday, July 30, 2013 

This page was updated on Monday, March 27, 2023 at 03:49 AM GMT

FedInvent analyzed 83 taxpayer-funded patents this week.

On Tuesday, July 30, 2013, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted 83 taxpayer-funded patents; including 77 patents containing government interest statements and 14 patents where federal government agencies were an assignee or applicant. Together, 83 patents granted this week are the result of US government-funded research & development.

Learn More About Taxpayer Funded Patents Here

The List of This Week's Patents

Just a list — patent number with a link and the title, for those patentistas who like to browse.

About The Icons On the List Below

  • The icon takes you to the full text version of the patent at USPTO;
  • The icon takes you to the PDF version of the patent at USPTO; and
  • The icon takes you to the details about the patent on the FedInvent Details page.
  • When you use the icon the patent you are interested appears at the top of the list on the details page.
Patent Title
001 08495767
 
Protective clothing ensemble with two-stage evaporative cooling 
002 08495872
 
Energy storage and recovery utilizing low-pressure thermal conditioning for heat exchange with high-pressure gas 
003 08495922
 
Sampling system for ground level aircraft engine particle matter (PM) emission measurement 
004 08495945
 
Weapon and weapon station system and method for loading, testing, targeting, and/or launching a weapon 
005 08495972
 
Automated injection system 
006 08495973
 
Thin film vaporizer 
007 08495982
 
Apparatus for mixing fuel and air in a combustion system 
008 08496033
 
Comminution process to produce engineered wood particles of uniform size and shape with disrupted grain structure from veneer 
009 08496077
 
Robotic two-wheeled vehicle 
010 08496323
 
Metastable nanoparticle ink compositions and images made therefrom 
011 08496443
 
Modular turbine airfoil and platform assembly with independent root teeth 
012 08496585
 
High frame rate imaging system 
013 08496606
 
Fluid separation devices, systems and methods 
014 08496650
 
Method and apparatus for photothermal therapy with adjustable spatial and/or temporal beam profile 
015 08496831
 
Dehydration processes using membranes with hydrophobic coating 
016 08496844
 
Ion etching of growing InP nanocrystals using microwave 
017 08496864
 
Static dissipative cable ties, such as for radiation belt storm probes 
018 08496870
 
Lead-free piezoelectric ceramic films and a method for making thereof 
019 08496874
 
Integrated centrifugal blood pump-oxygenator, an extracorporeal life support system and a method of de-bubbling and priming an extracorporeal life support system 
020 08496909
 
Calcium looping process for high purity hydrogen production integrated with capture of carbon dioxide, sulfur and halides 
021 08497019
 
Engineered plant biomass particles coated with bioactive agents 
022 08497020
 
Precision wood particle feedstocks 
023 08497021
 
Superoleophilic particles and coatings and methods of making the same 
024 08497028
 
Multi-layer metallic coating for TBC systems 
025 08497029
 
Wetting resistant materials and articles made therewith 
026 08497064
 
Nucleic acid labelling compounds 
027 08497066
 
DNA methylation based test for monitoring efficacy of treatment 
028 08497069
 
Amplification and cloning of single DNA molecules using rolling circle amplification 
029 08497110
 
Thermophilic and thermoacidophilic biopolymer-degrading genes and enzymes from alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius and related organisms, methods 
030 08497115
 
Methods for producing secreted polypeptides 
031 08497118
 
Chimeric immunoreceptor useful in treating human cancers 
032 08497122
 
Biomarkers for Niemann-pick C disease and related disorders 
033 08497131
 
Surface enhanced spectroscopy-active composite nanoparticles comprising Raman-active reporter molecules 
034 08497135
 
Diagnostic kits to detect SP22 and SP22 antibodies 
035 08497225
 
Method of producing graphite-carbon composite electrodes for supercapacitors 
036 08497246
 
Methods for diagnosing and treating CNS disorders by trans-blood-brain barrier delivery of protein compositions 
037 08497249
 
Fungicidal properties of three saponins from Capsicum frutescens 
038 08497292
 
Translational dysfunction based therapeutics 
039 08497350
 
Therapeutic compositions for age-related macular degeneration comprising a complement factor H with isoleucine at residue 62 and tyrosine at residue 402 
040 08497354
 
Antibodies to endoplasmin and their use 
041 08497359
 
Cationic electrodepositable coating composition comprising lignin 
042 08497361
 
Topoisomerase binding probe and method of use 
043 08497385
 
Bryostatin analogues, synthetic methods and uses 
044 08497386
 
Method of carbon chain extension using novel aldol reaction 
045 08497467
 
Optical filter control 
046 08497473
 
Electrospray ion source with reduced analyte electrochemistry 
047 08497479
 
Adjustable-aperture infrared cameras with feedback aperture control 
048 08497487
 
Sample holder with optical features 
049 08497552
 
Semiconductor devices with current shifting regions and related methods 
050 08497617
 
Stators with improved conductor assembly and method of making same 
051 08497631
 
Polymer microcavity and microchannel devices and fabrication method 
052 08497747
 
Microelectromechanical filter formed from parallel-connected lattice networks of contour-mode resonators 
053 08497767
 
Magnetic levitation haptic interface system 
054 08497914
 
Vision system and method for motion adaptive integration of image frames 
055 08497934
 
Actively addressable aperture light field camera 
056 08497992
 
Analytical system with photonic crystal sensor 
057 08498097
 
Supercapacitor compositions, devices and related methods 
058 08498350
 
Communication system incorporating physical layer waveform structure 
059 08498440
 
Eartip with tether 
060 08498454
 
Optimal subspaces for face recognition 
061 08498458
 
Fingerprint liveness analysis 
062 08498465
 
Accurate determination of the shape and localization of metallic object(s) in X-ray CT imaging 
063 08498480
 
Computationally efficient method for image segmentation with intensity and texture discrimination 
064 08498507
 
Anti-reflective launch optics for laser to fiber coupling in a photoplethysmograpic device 
065 08498592
 
Method and apparatus for improving energy efficiency of mobile devices through energy profiling based rate adaptation 
066 08498689
 
Real time motion information capture in an MRI environment 
067 08498699
 
Method and nerve stimulator using simultaneous electrical and optical signals 
068 08498713
 
Visual prosthetic apparatus for retinal stimulation 
069 08498741
 
Dexterous humanoid robotic wrist 
070 08498746
 
Sootblowing optimization for improved boiler performance 
071 08498756
 
Movable ground based recovery system for reuseable space flight hardware 
072 08498823
 
High-throughput ensemble-based docking and elucidation of 3-dimensional structural conformations of flexible biomolecular targets 
073 08498863
 
Method and apparatus for audio source separation 
074 08498948
 
Method and system for assessing data classification quality 
075 08498952
 
Systems and methods for box fitness termination of a job of an evolutionary software program 
076 08499022
 
Combining multiple clusterings by soft correspondence 
077 08499029
 
Management of process-to-process communication requests 
078 08499124
 
Handling castout cache lines in a victim cache 
079 08499203
 
Configurable alert delivery in a distributed processing system 
080 08499248
 
Methods and apparatus for managing and exchanging information using information objects 
081 08499285
 
Method of logging stack trace information 
082 08499292
 
Virtual execution environment for streaming languages 
083 PP23785
 
Sweetpotato plant named ‘07-146’ 

Up to Start Of Table

Patent Count By Department

This is the count of taxpayer-funded patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) this week. These patents contain a Government Interest Statement in the body of the patent document or are patents where the government is an assignee. Agency numbers are aggregated by the agency named in the Government Interests Statement and the contract number cited in the government interest section of the patent.

Department This Week This Year
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 24 1239
Department of Defense (DOD) 23 1412
Department of Energy (DOE) 20 688
National Science Foundation (NSF) 9 454
Small Business Administration (SBA) 7 78
Department of Commerce (DOC) 5 64
Department of Agriculture (USDA) 4 90
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 4 154
National Security Agency (NSA) 2 57
Department of Justice (DOJ) 1 7
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 1 21

Patents By Funding Agency

FedInvent Patents are patents funded by US taxpayers. Taxpayer-funded patents have Government Interest Statements in the body of the patent or are patents where an agency of the US federal government has retained the title to the patent and is listed as an assignee. The presence of a government interest statement, as required by the Bayh-Dole Act, indicates the holder of a federal contract, grant, or cooperative research agreement has elected to retain the title of inventions conceived and reduced to practice during that contract.

About The Icons On the List Below

  • The icon takes you to the full text version of the patent at USPTO;
  • The icon takes you to the PDF version of the patent at USPTO; and
  • The icon takes you to the details about the patent on the FedInvent Details page.
  • When you use the icon the patent you are interested appears at the top of the list on the details page.

Click the Panel to See The Patents for Each Agency

Take Me To The Details
Patent Title
001 08496585
 
High frame rate imaging system 
002 08496606
 
Fluid separation devices, systems and methods 
003 08496844
 
Ion etching of growing InP nanocrystals using microwave 
004 08496870
 
Lead-free piezoelectric ceramic films and a method for making thereof 
005 08496874
 
Integrated centrifugal blood pump-oxygenator, an extracorporeal life support system and a method of de-bubbling and priming an extracorporeal life support system 
006 08497066
 
DNA methylation based test for monitoring efficacy of treatment 
007 08497118
 
Chimeric immunoreceptor useful in treating human cancers 
008 08497122
 
Biomarkers for Niemann-pick C disease and related disorders 
009 08497131
 
Surface enhanced spectroscopy-active composite nanoparticles comprising Raman-active reporter molecules 
010 08497246
 
Methods for diagnosing and treating CNS disorders by trans-blood-brain barrier delivery of protein compositions 
011 08497292
 
Translational dysfunction based therapeutics 
012 08497350
 
Therapeutic compositions for age-related macular degeneration comprising a complement factor H with isoleucine at residue 62 and tyrosine at residue 402 
013 08497354
 
Antibodies to endoplasmin and their use 
014 08497361
 
Topoisomerase binding probe and method of use 
015 08497385
 
Bryostatin analogues, synthetic methods and uses 
016 08497767
 
Magnetic levitation haptic interface system 
017 08497914
 
Vision system and method for motion adaptive integration of image frames 
018 08497992
 
Analytical system with photonic crystal sensor 
019 08498465
 
Accurate determination of the shape and localization of metallic object(s) in X-ray CT imaging 
020 08498507
 
Anti-reflective launch optics for laser to fiber coupling in a photoplethysmograpic device 
021 08498689
 
Real time motion information capture in an MRI environment 
022 08498699
 
Method and nerve stimulator using simultaneous electrical and optical signals 
023 08498713
 
Visual prosthetic apparatus for retinal stimulation 
024 08498823
 
High-throughput ensemble-based docking and elucidation of 3-dimensional structural conformations of flexible biomolecular targets 

Up to Start Of Table

Take Me To The Details

Department of Defense (DOD) Agencies

Patent Title
001 08497467
 
Optical filter control 
002 08499029
 
Management of process-to-process communication requests 
003 08499124
 
Handling castout cache lines in a victim cache 
004 08499203
 
Configurable alert delivery in a distributed processing system 
005 08499292
 
Virtual execution environment for streaming languages 

Department of the ARMY (DOA)

Patent Title
001 08495767
 
Protective clothing ensemble with two-stage evaporative cooling 
002 08495973
 
Thin film vaporizer 
003 08497479
 
Adjustable-aperture infrared cameras with feedback aperture control 
004 08497552
 
Semiconductor devices with current shifting regions and related methods 
005 08498465
 
Accurate determination of the shape and localization of metallic object(s) in X-ray CT imaging 

Department of the Navy (DON) | United States Marine Corps (USMC)

Patent Title
001 08495922
 
Sampling system for ground level aircraft engine particle matter (PM) emission measurement 
002 08495945
 
Weapon and weapon station system and method for loading, testing, targeting, and/or launching a weapon 
003 08497028
 
Multi-layer metallic coating for TBC systems 
004 08498440
 
Eartip with tether 
005 08498480
 
Computationally efficient method for image segmentation with intensity and texture discrimination 
006 08499248
 
Methods and apparatus for managing and exchanging information using information objects 
007 08499285
 
Method of logging stack trace information 

Department of the Air Force (DAF)| United States Space Force (USSF)

Patent Title
001 08496650
 
Method and apparatus for photothermal therapy with adjustable spatial and/or temporal beam profile 
002 08497631
 
Polymer microcavity and microchannel devices and fabrication method 
003 08498863
 
Method and apparatus for audio source separation 
004 08498952
 
Systems and methods for box fitness termination of a job of an evolutionary software program 
005 08499022
 
Combining multiple clusterings by soft correspondence 

Up to Start Of Table

Take Me To The Details
Patent Title
001 08495872
 
Energy storage and recovery utilizing low-pressure thermal conditioning for heat exchange with high-pressure gas 
002 08495982
 
Apparatus for mixing fuel and air in a combustion system 
003 08496033
 
Comminution process to produce engineered wood particles of uniform size and shape with disrupted grain structure from veneer 
004 08496443
 
Modular turbine airfoil and platform assembly with independent root teeth 
005 08496831
 
Dehydration processes using membranes with hydrophobic coating 
006 08496909
 
Calcium looping process for high purity hydrogen production integrated with capture of carbon dioxide, sulfur and halides 
007 08497019
 
Engineered plant biomass particles coated with bioactive agents 
008 08497020
 
Precision wood particle feedstocks 
009 08497021
 
Superoleophilic particles and coatings and methods of making the same 
010 08497069
 
Amplification and cloning of single DNA molecules using rolling circle amplification 
011 08497110
 
Thermophilic and thermoacidophilic biopolymer-degrading genes and enzymes from alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius and related organisms, methods 
012 08497115
 
Methods for producing secreted polypeptides 
013 08497359
 
Cationic electrodepositable coating composition comprising lignin 
014 08497386
 
Method of carbon chain extension using novel aldol reaction 
015 08497473
 
Electrospray ion source with reduced analyte electrochemistry 
016 08497487
 
Sample holder with optical features 
017 08497617
 
Stators with improved conductor assembly and method of making same 
018 08497747
 
Microelectromechanical filter formed from parallel-connected lattice networks of contour-mode resonators 
019 08498097
 
Supercapacitor compositions, devices and related methods 
020 08498746
 
Sootblowing optimization for improved boiler performance 

Up to Start Of Table

Emerging Technology

Emerging Climate Change Technologies

Patents containing 'Y" CPC symbols indicate emerging climate change and clean technology inventions.

About The Icons On the List Below

  • The icon takes you to the full text version of the patent at USPTO;
  • The icon takes you to the PDF version of the patent at USPTO; and
  • The icon takes you to the details about the patent on the FedInvent Details page.
  • When you use the icon the patent you are interested appears at the top of the list on the details page.
Class

About Y Emerging Technology Symbols

Patent documents that contain a Y02 or Y04 CPC symbol are already classified elsewhere. USPTO adds the Y symbols to the classification data to monitor new technological developments covering clean technology and inventions impacting climate change, important American science and technology interests.

Y02 — Green House Gas Mitigation

Y02 covers selected technologies, that control, reduce, or prevent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, and technologies that allow adapting to the adverse effects of climate change. Y02A covers technologies for adaptation to climate change, — technologies that allow adapting to the adverse effects of climate change in human, industrial (including agriculture and livestock), and economic activities. Y02P covers climate change mitigation technologies in any kind of industrial processing or production activity, including the agroalimentary industry (relating to agriculture and food), agriculture, fishing, ranching and the like.

Y04 — Enabling Technologies

Y04 is focused on the information and communications inventions that facilitate climate change technology. Y04S covers systems integrating technologies related to power network operation, communication, or information technologies for improving electrical power generation, transmission, distribution, management, or usage. Examples of the art covered here are technologies related to smart grids, home appliances, and systems supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles.

The Health Complex

This section contains the count of patents funded by The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) organized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) institute; and HHS subagencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and others. These agencies together are called the Health Complex.

Department | Agency This Week This Year
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)241239
National Institutes of Health (NIH)241163
National Cancer Institute (NCI)5216
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)455
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)482
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)386
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)2132
National Eye Institute (NEI)147
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)132

Up to Start Of Table

Higher Education Research and Development (HERD)

FedInvent follows the HERD the Higher Education Research and Development institutions — the colleges and universities; research institutions, and medical schools that benefit from federal funding and rely on it to make important discoveries that drive American innovation. Taxpayer-funded patents coming from American and sometimes foreign universities are an important indicia of the vitality of the American innovation ecosphere.

MEMBERS OF THE HERD

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey is the primary source of information on R&D expenditures at 916 US colleges and universities that expended at least $150,000 in separately accounted for R&D in the fiscal year. We use the NSF list to keep track of which colleges and universities are receiving taxpayer-funded patents and filing patent applications.

WATCH This SPACE

We're working on our data analytics and will be reporting taxpayer-funded patents and patent applications shortly. In the meantime, FedInvent will post interesting information about the HERD Innovation Ecosphere here.

Top Ten Universities By R&D Expenditures
  1. Johns Hopkins University
  2. University of Michigan
  3. University of Washington
  4. University of California, San Diego
  5. University of California, San Francisco
  6. Columbia University in the City of New York
  7. Stanford University
  8. University Pittsburgh
  9. University Pennsylvania
  10. Duke University

Count By Tech Center

Patents organized by count and Technology Center where the patent was examined.

Tech Center Count
1600 Biotechnology and Organic Chemistry 18
1700 Chemical and Materials Engineering 14
2800 Semiconductors, Electrical and Optical Systems and Components 14
3700 Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing, Gaming and Medical Devices/Processes 12
2600 Communications 10
2100 Computer Architecture Software and Information Security 8
3600 Transportation, Electronic Commerce, Construction, Agriculture, Licensing and Review 5
2400 Computer Networks, Multiplex, Cable and Cryptography/Security 2

For more information on the types of inventions examined in each Technology Center, see the About Tech Centers section of this page.

Patents By Scientific Domain.

This section contains the number of patents by high level scientific and technical domain. The data is arranged by the first Cooperative Patent Classification System (CPC) patent symbol assigned to the patent. This indicates the scope and nature of the invention for a patent or a patent application.

Global patent offices use patent classification as their lingua franca — the common language — for exchanging information about inventions and what scientific and technical art a patent contains. The classifications assigned to a patent are used by patent examiners to find prior art and to determine if a particular patent's claims are novel. Patent classifications are also used for global enforcement of patent rights, treaties, and agreements.

Class Class Definition First
(Original)
Inventive
(CrossRef)
USPC 435 Chemistry: Molecular biology and microbiology 7 0
USPC 428 Stock material or miscellaneous articles 5 0
USPC 250 Radiant energy 4 0
USPC 382 Image analysis 4 0
USPC 514 Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions 3 0
USPC 530 Chemistry: Natural resins or derivatives; peptides or proteins; lignins or reaction products thereof 3 0
CPC C07 Organic Chemistry 1 2
USPC 264 Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: Processes 2 0
USPC 348 Television 2 0
USPC 436 Chemistry: Analytical and immunological testing 2 0
USPC 549 Organic compounds 2 0
USPC 600 Surgery 2 0
USPC 607 Surgery: Light, thermal, and electrical application 2 0
USPC 700 Data processing: Generic control systems or specific applications 2 0
USPC 717 Data processing: Software development, installation, and management 2 0
USPC 002 Apparel 1 0
USPC 060 Power plants 1 0
USPC 073 Measuring and testing 1 0
USPC 089 Ordnance 1 0
USPC 119 Animal husbandry 1 0
USPC 122 Liquid heaters and vaporizers 1 0
USPC 123 Internal-combustion engines 1 0
USPC 144 Woodworking 1 0
USPC 180 Motor vehicles 1 0
USPC 210 Liquid purification or separation 1 0
USPC 216 Etching a substrate: Processes 1 0
USPC 257 Active solid-state devices 1 0
USPC 310 Electrical generator or motor structure 1 0
USPC 313 Electric lamp and discharge devices 1 0
USPC 333 Wave transmission lines and networks 1 0
USPC 340 Communications: Electrical 1 0
USPC 347 Incremental printing of symbolic information 1 0
USPC 356 Optics: Measuring and testing 1 0
USPC 361 Electricity: Electrical systems and devices 1 0
USPC 375 Pulse or digital communications 1 0
USPC 381 Electrical audio signal processing systems and devices 1 0
USPC 385 Optical waveguides 1 0
USPC 416 Fluid reaction surfaces 1 0
USPC 422 Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preserving, or sterilizing 1 0
USPC 423 Chemistry of inorganic compounds 1 0
USPC 455 Telecommunications 1 0
USPC 502 Catalyst, solid sorbent, or support therefor: Product or process of making 1 0
USPC 604 Surgery 1 0
USPC 606 Surgery 1 0
USPC 701 Data processing: Vehicles, navigation, and relative location 1 0
USPC 702 Data processing: Measuring, calibrating, or testing 1 0
USPC 704 Data processing: Speech signal processing, linguistics, language translation, and audio compression/decompression 1 0
USPC 706 Data processing: Artificial intelligence 1 0
USPC 708 Electrical computers: Arithmetic processing and calculating 1 0
USPC 709 Electrical computers and digital processing systems: Multicomputer data transferring 1 0
USPC 711 Electrical computers and digital processing systems: Memory 1 0
USPC 714 Error detection/correction and fault detection/recovery 1 0
USPC 715 Data processing: Presentation processing of document, operator interface processing, and screen saver display processing 1 0
CPC G06 Computing; Calculating; Counting 1 0
USPC PLT Plants 1 0

Up to Start Of Table

Count of Inventors by Country and U.S. State

Patent count by country and state based on the location information of first named inventors and of all inventors on the patent.

Country First Named Inventors All Inventors
United States of America 82 245
Switzerland 1 1
France 0 4
Canada 0 2
India 0 2
Israel 0 1
Italy 0 1
U.S. State First Named Inventors All Inventors
California 19 51
New York 7 29
Massachusetts 6 14
Pennsylvania 5 13
Washington 4 9
Texas 3 14
Illinois 3 11
Michigan 3 9
Florida 3 7
Ohio 3 7
Minnesota 2 9
Maryland 2 8
Tennessee 2 8
New Mexico 2 7
Louisiana 2 6
Connecticut 2 5
Colorado 2 4
North Carolina 2 4
Idaho 1 5
Wisconsin 1 5
Indiana 1 4
Virginia 1 4
New Jersey 1 2
Vermont 1 2
Georgia 1 1
Iowa 1 1
Missouri 1 1
Mississippi 1 1
Alabama 0 1
Arizona 0 1
West Virginia 0 1
Wyoming 0 1

Up to Start Of Table

Count of Assignees and Applicants by Country and U.S. State

Patent count by country and state based on location information of Assignees and Applicants.

Country Assignees Applicants
United States of America 84241
France 04
Canada 02
India 02
Israel 01
Italy 01
Switzerland 01
U.S. State Assignees Applicants
California 1551
New York 1230
District of Columbia 90
Massachusetts 614
Pennsylvania 413
Michigan 49
Ohio 47
Illinois 311
Tennessee 38
Washington 37
Florida 36
Maryland 28
New Mexico 27
Wisconsin 25
North Carolina 24
New Jersey 22
Louisiana 16
Connecticut 15
Idaho 15
Colorado 14
Iowa 11
Missouri 11
West Virginia 11
New Hampshire 10
Texas 014
Minnesota 07
Indiana 04
Virginia 04
Vermont 02
Alabama 01
Arizona 01
Georgia 01
Mississippi 01
Wyoming 01

Up to Start Of Table

Technology Center Explainer

How Tech Centers and Art Units Are Organized And Why It Matters

Patents travel from Technology Center to Art Unit to Group Art Unit to Patent Examiner.

The USPTO's patent corps is organized into Technology Centers (TCs), groups of patent examiners with specific scientific and technical domain expertise. Technology Centers are further divided into Art Units (AUs) organized by major types of inventive art within a scientific or technical domain. Art Units are organized into Group Art Units, even more specialized and granular teams of examiners.

Group Art Units (GAUs) are where patent examiners prosecute patent applications. Patent applications are docketed to examiners based on specific subject matter classifications of a particular GAU.

Understanding Technology Centers, Art Units, and Group Art Units helps you understand what type of inventions are being prosecuted within each scientific and technical domain, how long it takes from the date a patent application is filed to the time a final decision on the patentability of the invention is made.

Technology Centers and Art Units

Click or touch the accordion panel to open it and see the way different types of inventions are grouped together within Art Units.

Patents examined here cover:

Art Unit Technical & Scientific Domains
1610 Organic Compounds: Bio-affecting, Body Treating, Drug Delivery, Steroids, Herbicides, Pesticides, Cosmetics, and Drugs
1620 Organic Chemistry
1630 Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, Nucleic Acids, Recombinant DNA and RNA, Gene Regulation, Nucleic Acid Amplification, Animals and Plants, Combinatorial/ Computational Chemistry
1640 Immunology, Receptor/Ligands, Cytokines Recombinant Hormones, and Molecular Biology
1650 Fermentation, Microbiology, Isolated and Recombinant Proteins/Enzyme
1660 Plants

About Plant Patents

Plant Patents are granted to an inventor who has invented, or discovered and asexually reproduced a distinct and new variety of plant, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state. If you've ever eaten a pluot, you've enjoyed the fruit of a plant patent.

Plant patent numbers begin with a "PP" followed by a five digit number. The first Plant Patent was issued in 1931. Plant patents are valid for 20 years from the filing date.

Patents examined here cover:

Art Unit Technical & Scientific Domains
1710 Coating, Etching, Cleaning, Single Crystal Growth
1720 Fuel Cells, Batteries, Solar Cells, Liquid Crystal Composition
1730 Metallurgy, Metal Working, Inorganic Chemistry, Catalysts, Electrophotography, Photolithography
1740 Tires, Adhesive Bonding, Glass/Paper making, Plastics Shaping & Molding
1760 Organic Chemistry, Polymers, Compositions
1770 Chemical Apparatus, Separation and Purification, Liquid and Gas Contact Apparatus
1780 Miscellaneous Articles, Stock Material, Adhesive Composition, Fabrics
1790 Food, Analytical Chemistry, Sterilization, Biochemistry, Electrochemistry

Patents examined here cover:

Art Unit Technical & Scientific Domains
2110 Coating, Etching, Cleaning, Single Crystal Growth
2120 Miscellaneous Articles, Stock Material, Adhesive Composition, Fabrics
2130 Fuel Cells, Batteries, Solar Cells, Liquid Crystal Composition
2140/2170 Metallurgy, Metal Working, Inorganic Chemistry, Catalysts, Electrophotography, Photolithography
2150/2160 Tires, Adhesive Bonding, Glass/Paper making, Plastics Shaping & Molding
2180 Organic Chemistry, Polymers, Compositions
2190 Chemical Apparatus, Separation and Purification, Liquid and Gas Contact Apparatus

Patents examined here cover:

Art Unit Technical & Scientific Domains
2410/2460/2470 Multiplex, VoIP
2420 Cable and Television
2430/2490 Cryptography and Security
2440/2450 Computer Networks
2480 Recording and Compression

Patents examined here cover:

Art Unit Technical & Scientific Domains
2610 Computer Graphic Processing, 3D Animation, Display Color Attribute, Object Processing, Hardware and Memory
2620 Selective Visual Display Systems
2630 Digital and Optical Communications
2640 Telecommunications: Analog Radio Telephone; Satellite and Power Control; Transceivers, Measuring and Testing; Bluetooth; Receivers and Transmitters; Equipment Details
2650 Videophones and Telephonic Communications; Audio Signals; Digital Audio Data Processing; Linguistics, Speech Processing and Audio Compression
2660 Digital Cameras; Image Analysis; Applications; pattern Recognition; Color and Compression; Enhancement and Transformation
2670 Facsimile; Printer; Color; halftone; Scanner; Computer Graphic Processing; 3-D Animation; Display Color; Attributes; Object Processing; Hardware and Memory
2680 Telemetry and Code Generation; Vehicles and System Alarms; Selective Communication; Dynamic Storage Systems; Mechanical parts of Disk Drives; Signal Processing and Control Processing in Disk Drives
2690 Selective Visual Display Systems

More broadly TC 2800 Art Units cover Semiconductors/Memory, Circuits/Measuring and Testing, Optics/Photocopying, Printing/Measuring and Testing.

Patents examined here cover:

Art Unit Technical & Scientific Domains
2810/2820/2890 Semiconductors/Memory
2830/2840 Electrical Circuits and Systems
2850/2860 Printing/Measuring and Testing
2870/2880 Optics

About Design Patents

The design FOR an article. Not to the design OF an article.

Patents examined here cover Design patents cover the appearance of an article. The design for an article consists of the visual characteristics embodied in or applied to an article. Since a design is manifested in appearance, the subject matter of a design patent application may relate to the configuration or shape of an article, to the surface ornamentation applied to an article, or to the combination of configuration and surface ornamentation.

Design is inseparable from the article to which it is applied and cannot exist alone merely as a scheme of surface ornamentation. It must be a definite, preconceived thing, capable of reproduction and not merely the chance result of a method.

Design patent numbers begin with a "D" followed by a six digit number. The first Design Patent was issued in 1843. The term of a design patent is 15 years measured from the date of grant, if the design application was filed on or after May 13, 2015 (or 14 years if filed before May 13, 2015).

Patents examined here cover:

Art Unit Technical & Scientific Domains
3610 Surface Transportation
3620 Business Methods — Incentive Programs, Coupons; Operations Research; Electronic Shopping; Health Care; Point of Sale, Inventory, Accounting; Cost/Price, Reservations, Shipping and Transportation; Business Processing
3630 Static Structures, Supports and Furniture
3640 Aeronautics, Agriculture, Fishing, Trapping, Vermin Destroying, Plant and Animal Husbandry, Weaponry, Nuclear Systems, and License and Review
3650 Material and Article Handling
3660 Computerized Vehicle Controls and Navigation, Radio Wave, Optical and Acoustic Wave Communication, Robotics, and Nuclear Systems
3670 Wells, Earth Boring/Moving/Working, Excavating, Mining, Harvesters, Bridges, Roads, Petroleum, Closures, Connections, and Hardware
3680 Business Methods — Incentive Programs, Coupons; Electronic Shopping; Business Cryptography, Voting; Health Care; Point of Sale, Inventory, Accounting; Business Processing, Electronic Negotiation
3690 Business Methods — Finance/Banking/ Insurance

Patents examined here cover:

Art Unit Technical & Scientific Domains
3710 Amusement and Education Devices
3720 Manufacturing Devices and Processes, Machine Tools and Hand Tools
3730 Sheet Container Making, Package Making, Receptacles, Shoes, Apparel, and Tool Driving or Impacting
3740 Thermal and Combustion Technology, Motive and Fluid Power Systems
3750 Fluid Handling and Dispensing
3760 Refrigeration, Vaporization, Ventilation, and Combustion
3770 Medical & Surgical Instruments, Treatment Devices, Surgery and Surgical Supplies
3780 Body Treatment, Kinestherapy, and Exercising

Patents examined here cover:

Art Unit Technical & Scientific Domains
3970 Express Abandonments
3990 Central Reexamination Unit

FedInvent Patents

Each week FedInvent analyzes newly granted patents and published patent applications whose origins lead back to funding from the US federal government. We assemble a weekly patent catalog and analyze the inventions, the inventors, and the entities who received the patents. We map the patents back to the agency that funded the R&D that led to the new invention. FedInvent uses the funding opportunity descriptions, the grants, and the contracts that define the research areas of interest, and the R&D policies and priorities of that drove and are driving the funding to organize each week's patents.

ABOUT OUR DATA

The weekly patent catalog includes patents with government interest statements indicating federal funding; and patents where the assignee, the owner of the invention, is the federal government. This includes work on federal grants, work on federal contracts, innovation by Federal Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) funded by Federal Departments and University Affiliated Research Centers funded by DoD.

Not every inventor is a government contractor. There are many inventions conceived and patented by scientists and engineers working for the federal government or serving in the military.

THE NUMBERS MAY NOT MATCH THE NUMBER OF PATENTS WE ANALYZE EACH WEEK

The numbers in the tables presented on this page will not add up to the number of patents granted each week because patents are counted by each agency that funded the creation of the invention. Patents and funding have a many-to-many relationship. One patent may have more than one funding grant or contract associated with it. A grant or contract may lead to more than one patent. More than one agency may have funded the inventors or the contract. More than one university or business may have worked together on an invention. When we report the numbers here, we associate a patent with all of the entities and funding that are reflected on the patent and report them to you. This approach presents a more complete picture of what's going on in the federal innovation ecosphere. Put another way, the numbers in the tables presented on this page may not always add up to the number of patents each week because patents are counted by each agency that funded the creation of the invention.

Subscribe to The FedInvent™ Newsletter

 The latest from FedInvent delivered right to your inbox.